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No one thing is going to be the whole answer. But a combination of a LOT of things can make a HUGE difference! Personally, I believe that - through serious conservation - we COULD reduce our national oil consumption by 10-20%. Wouldn't that be great?
Set CAFE standards at 50 mpg for passenger vehicles and 25 for light trucks and SUVs and lower the speed limits on all roads in the country to a maximum 55 mph would probably get us there.
Oh - If we would all inflate our tires properly, we save 1% immediately with no expense (per the AAA). That's 200K barrels per day saved by the proper use of an air hose.
As of 2006 and projected into 2030 our use of hydroelectric will decrease from 2.9% of energy demand to 2.5%. In 2006 4.1% of the energy demand was biomass and renewables and by 2030 it's expected to only be 9.3% of total power demand. Nuclear at present and into the future is projected to be 8.2-8.1% while gas, coal and oil make up the rest of our energy demands for the future @ 25.3%, 19.8%, 34.9% respectively all of which decline except coal which is projected to increase 2.7%. The total US consumption in quadrillion btu's is 100 as of right now and projected by 2030 to reach 120 for a 20% increase. While it's very trendy to want to get off oil the reality is everything around you (unless you are delivering goods and services by electric cars) requires oil. There is no other engine made today other than nuclear that can meet heavy industry needs other than fossil fuels. In fact our whole infrastructure is based on oil and fossil fuels. If we try to get off oil what we really need to do is go into chapter 11 and restructure it would be a more efficient approach than the weening attempts that are to be made.
You get up in the out of your comfy new bed that was delivered (with oil) and notice the wood that it is cut from was cut with giant (diesel run) tree demolishing machines. It's then transported (via fuel) to the mill (that runs off coal power) where it was cut up for distribution. It then travels (via fuel) to the furniture shop (that's ran by power which is made from coal). The base or stain used to color it after mfg is made with oil. I could take you back to the sweat shop in Vietnam where the sheets are made but you get the point. Same thing goes for foods at the grocery store and 95% of those goods require oil to get where they are. Medicines, containers food are in like bags of salad, plastics, foods, beauty products...etc..etc. I looked around one day and tried to find just one thing around me that was not brought, made or somehow related to oil and it's pretty tough. Short of me walking out to a garden of course.....barefoot and naked....
Set CAFE standards at 50 mpg for passenger vehicles and 25 for light trucks and SUVs and lower the speed limits on all roads in the country to a maximum 55 mph would probably get us there.
Oh - If we would all inflate our tires properly, we save 1% immediately with no expense (per the AAA). That's 200K barrels per day saved by the proper use of an air hose.
Although I do advocate proper tire pressure once you remove the millions of people without cars, the millions with cars but live in a city and walk to work or bike to work, the millions of cars with tire pressure monitors and run flats (known to have dramatically less effect on MPG as related to tire pressure) and finally the millions of people that already do keep their tires inflated correctly then the remaining people might make a small difference but the claims that are out there from 1-3% are probably rare although ever changing with fuel prices as fuel is cheaper people drive more and the idiots with flat tires are subjecting themselves and others to longer and longer times where others have to deal with them and the dangerous death machine they command.
Although wouldn't it be ironic if they traced the recent trend in oil to Obama saying keep your tires inflated.
The development of America's vast domestic oil and natural gas resources that had been kept off-limits by Congress until recently could generate more than $1.7 trillion in government revenue, create thousands of new jobs and enhance the nation’s energy security by significantly boosting domestic production, a new study shows.
Hard to tell where Obama will stand - or will be pushed to.
But I say drill everything, everywhere possible. We need to get completely and totally off OPEC oil. Period. If that means tens of thousands of cars running on Natural Gas, all the better!
Wrong. Drill "everything, everywhere possible"--suck all the guts out of this living planet called "Earth"--and we will all die. Millions of years for the planet to reach a state of equilibrium, and you want to continue on this destructive and suicidal course? When will people learn that the planet is a living organism, and that natural "resources" like oil and gas are its "lifeblood"? A very, very dangerous proposition, my friend.
Wrong. Drill "everything, everywhere possible"--suck all the guts out of this living planet called "Earth"--and we will all die. Millions of years for the planet to reach a state of equilibrium, and you want to continue on this destructive and suicidal course? When will people learn that the planet is a living organism, and that natural "resources" like oil and gas are its "lifeblood"? A very, very dangerous proposition, my friend.
Yeah, that's EXACTLY what I said Oh Great Stalker.
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